Now there’s a birthday present I’d love! Baby awarded 1 million miles for being the first baby ever born on a Cebu Pacific flight. The flight was 4 hours into it’s journey from Dubai to the Philippines when the baby’s mother went into labor. Luckily, two nurses were onboard the flight and helped delivery the baby. The flight later diverted to Hyderabad, India to seek additional medical attention. Ultimately the flight would be delayed by about 9 hours due to the diversion.
So what the heck is Cebu Pacific? It is a budget airlines in the Philippines, and one of the largest airlines in the island nation. The airline operates a fleet of A330s, A320s, A319s, and ATR 72-500s. They operate flights largely within Asia and to the Middle East. Their sole flight to the U.S. is to Guam. Cebu Pacific does belong to a regional airline alliance known as the Value Alliance, which is comprised of asian low cost carriers.
The Airline’s frequent flyer program is called GetGo, and is a revenue based program. To earn a single point, you need to spend 5 Philippine Pesos, which is equivalent to about $0.11 at todays rates. How many points are required for a flight isn’t clear. You have to join GetGo in order to find out what award flights cost. I do believe, however, that GetGo is not only revenue based on earning, but for redemptions as well. It isn’t a particularly lucrative program, nor would it be much use for any of us thanks to Cebu’s limited partnerships. Either way, though, the whole situation is really cool. A baby awarded 1 million miles isn’t something you exactly something you hear about, ever. Now if only we could get U.S. airlines to do stuff like this… though I’m sure some may rather charge you for the diversion than give you a million miles…